|
 Sanchi
is known for its Stupas, monasteries, temples and pillars dating from
the 3rd century B.C. to the 12th century A.D. The most famous of these
monuments, the Sanchi Stupa 1, was originally built by the Mauryan
Emperor Ashoka, the then governor of Ujjayini, whose wife Devi was the
daughter of a merchant from adjacent Vidisha. Their son Mahindra and
daughter Sanghamitra were born in Ujjayini and sent to Sri Lanka, where
they converted the King, the Queen and their people to Buddhism.
A Chunar sandstone pillar
fragment, shining with the proverbial Mauryan polish, lies near Stupa I
and carries the famous edict of Ashoka warning against schism in the
Buddhist community. Stupa 1 was found empty, while relics of the two
disciples of Buddha enshrined in the adjacent Stupa 3 were carried away
to England. The nearby modern temple has a reliquary containing the
remains of a Buddhist teacher from another Stupa outside Sanchi.
|
|
